The older German Patent Application Nos. 197 12 782.7, 197 26 878.1, 197 33 896.8, 100 13759.8, 100 25 417.9, and 101 23 685.9; European Patent Application Nos. 98 10 55 51.0, 99 93 63 35.1, 00 11 24 32.0, and 00 12 51 50.3; International Patent Application Nos. PCT/DE 99/01564, PCT/DE 00/02625, PCT/DE 00/02892, PCT/DE 00/02391, PCT/DE 01/01379, PCT/DE 01/01594; and Utility Model Application Nos. 298 09 554.8, 298 19 165.2, 298 20 722.2, 299 05 000.9, 299 05 919.7, 299 08 946.0, 299 10 059.6, 299 13 628.0, 200 11 391.7, 200 12 707.1, 200 16 554.2, 201 01 990.6, and 201 09 976.4, which trace back to the applicant/holder under consideration, generally deal with an airbag device and production and triggering methods for it, in particular, in connection with airbag flaps to be opened actively and their controls. The complete disclosure contents from the earlier applications, in particular with regard to airbag flaps to be opened actively and their controls, are incorporated, in their complete scope by reference in the documents under consideration, thus avoiding mere repetition.
The PCT application PCT/DE 02/04097 (WO 03/047917) deals in particular with the technologies of driver airbags that do not also rotate. To avoid mere repetitions, the complete disclosure contents of this publication, with regard to the aforementioned technology, are hereby also incorporated, in their full scope, by reference in the documents under consideration.
Rotation of the steering wheel nowadays makes it is necessary to form the airbag round, since its effect should be the same in any steering wheel position.
The invention under consideration has as its objective further improvements over the current state of the art, and in particular, increased safety for drivers of motor vehicles.
The invention under consideration concerns and creates, to this end, a “stationary” contour airbag, in particular with active transverse unfolding, and a corresponding operating method. In addition, however, other aspects worthy of protection and patentable in and of themselves are disclosed in the documents under consideration—in particular, also concerning airbag protection for a front-seat passenger, wherein these other aspects can also be combined with versions of the stationary contour driver airbag with active transverse unfolding for a further increase in overall safety.